


Tending Sour Earth

by TheGutterStar



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-27
Updated: 2013-05-27
Packaged: 2017-12-13 04:27:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/819968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGutterStar/pseuds/TheGutterStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo dies in battle and Thorin - unable to cope with the grief - makes a very foolish deal with a demon.</p>
<p>"How swiftly those who've made a pact come to over look the fact, or wish the reckoning be delayed but a debt is a debt and must be paid" - Willy Russell</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tending Sour Earth

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a story I started while battling boredom in a long rehearsal period. I hope you enjoy this as this is going to be a much darker story than the other story (to be re-posted soon) is likely to be. I hope you enjoy it, all feedback is appreciated and I apologise for how slow my updates are likely to be. This is a very short opener! Enjoy.
> 
> C x

"The soul was is a curious thing master Oakenshield" the creature hissed, the emphasised syballences echoed about the room and made the air feel heavy and stale. Thorin never dropped his gaze though his voice gave away the nerves he tried to bury. 

"He is worth the price" such opinion raised a derisive cackle from the being before him. It's skin - as milk white as Azogs had been in life - seemed to ripple and shift as though it was being stretched, as though something wanted to get out. The King under the mountain barely supressed a shudder of revolution and the thing grinned allowing his gash of a mouth to split like an open wound. Revealing rows of razor pointed little fangs, they were like the fangs of a serpent but far more numerous and not only were they positioned top and bottom but they stretched back, there must have been 6 rows and all were possessed of the same eerie pearlescent quality.

"such sweet sentiment Oh mighty King. But a wasted one...such wishes never end as beautifully as you would hope"

"Why tell me this?"

"why not?" the monster sounded almost callously nonchalant "I will get what I want whatever I say, your lover lies dead and you feel responsible. It is noble...to your mind at least, to return the sacrifice."

"I cannot...I can't live without him." his voice broke with words he could barely comprehend. He would face anything, anything but this loneliness. This loss. "I owe it him..." Thorin finally let his gaze drop from the mangled...thing...and he felt the overwhelming surge of relief that came from not being faced with such a monstrosity. Its laugh was painful and rasping. 

"You owe him a debt...you see this as a good deed? Very well I shall indulge you, though remember oh King; the road of damnation is paved with foolish acts of 'goodness' every ill considered repayment holds a new price and the price is high and I do not take my payment in installments or in gold."

"I love him..." 

"And I am quite sure Mr Baggins loved you...but don't make a deal with me lightly. There is always a price to be paid and so often its because you short lived creatures forget the most important thing." The dwarf looked back up at the creature, the contract crinkling in his large hands, he felt his heart hammering and felt sick that his lover lay cold and unaffected by the world that still had a rising and setting sun. That his mutinous heart continued to hammer. When he finally spoke it was lightly stuttered and tired.

"What is the most important thing?" surely that couldn't be his voice? Thorin had never heard his voice so broken and unsure, it was rough and hoarse. The thing stood, his hideous form was still and yet below its skin that unknown something shifted repulsively. 

"Sometimes..." its death rattle hiss came out almost thoughtfully "sometimes, dead is just better." The dwarf shook his head pitifully and he mouthed words that could not be allowed to travel into the defiled air. Words that could not exist in the presence of this tainted hellion, they were words of desperation and love. Love that was forged long before the Gods themselves and would die long after the wisest philosophers. Desperation more real and more tangible then the stars in the sky, the monster looked on unmoved. 

"The soul is a curious thing Master Oakenshield" the creature repeated "and it is the price I want for the return of your little lover. Read the contract carefully...I'll come when you sign it."

"and if I don't sign it?" he asked a little breathlessly, his courage near none existent. The face morphed into - what on normal features might be - a grim smile. A black tongue lathed the rows of tiny white daggers and his soft hiss of a voice responded almost matter of factly

"We both know the contract will be signed and signed may I reiterate in your blood. I have warned you against such a choice and yet you have remained in my presence so I will tell you not to play games and simply do as I have commanded and act as we both know you inevitably will." 

The world felt uneven and the rasping breaths of that unnatural thing filled Thorin’s ears. He closed his eyes to shut it out, to free his senses of this abhorrence that smothered and tainted the atmosphere like a tar, when he finally managed to open his eyes, the creature was gone and Thorin was all alone once more.


End file.
